What are the benefits of converting to electronic health records? my doctor just looks at them instead of me now.

Too early to tell.: While there are some benefits to having an emr - i.e. Readable notes, easy access to labs and imaging... They haven't been conclusively proven to either 1) reduce costs for doctors and patients. 2) improve overall safety for patients. Most of the emrs out there are crud. A few can improve a physician's efficiency (mostly for younger docs). The software hasn't matured yet. Give it 5 years.

True to some extent: Medical professionals including doctors and nurses have to document unbelievably so much data in the computers. It is not surprising that most of our time is spent near a computer. It becomes more worse after introduction of cpoe ( computerized physician order entry) in the hospitals. Hope things get better so that we spend more time with the patients.